5 Years of ICT Trading Knowledge in 23 Minutes

[00:01] concepts religiously. I've passed funded challenges. I've blown accounts. I've every single mistake that you could ever imagine. And now, we both trade consistently a month, using a framework that took us years to refine. This video

[00:14] started. In the next 20 minutes, I'm going to be handing you guys 5 years worth of ICT trading advice. The real stuff that isn't in any other lessons, the worst mistakes I made, the rules I live by now, and the mindset

[00:26] around. If you watch this video to the end, you'll walk away with a clear road right, let's first start off with the most important thing in this video. And it's going to be to master one model, one session, and find one mentor that

[00:40] is why the majority of you aren't profitable. Without this, you're not building real experience. You're simply just gambling. Ask yourself this. How if you're trading three different pairs? If you're trading three different

[00:52] sessions, if you're trading New York AM, London session, Asia session, if you're if you're learning from a bunch of different mentors, it's just simply not consistency. So, instead, this is exactly what I started doing to cut out

[01:06] is I found one entry model that I really like. It doesn't matter. Your entry right now. We trade inversion for valley gaps. That's what we like and we stick to that. We don't trade anything else. Number two is to trade one singular

[01:19] asset. get really good at that. For example, we trade NQ, we trade NASDAQ. That doesn't mean I'm going to be going to trade gold futures and silver futures help me build consistency. I need to understand first all the nuances that

[01:33] come with trading the NASDAQ and understand all of its behaviors. And session. For example, I trade New York AM session. I'm not trading London. I'm me the best volatility and it's not going to give me the best price action

[01:46] for what I like trading. So, I'm not going to be trading those sessions. See, other sessions, it's not going to result in the same exact win rate or session. So, by trading different strategies, different entry models,

[01:59] in a bunch of different probabilities and you'll never have one consistent and understand, right? You can trade two different entry models that, let's say, both have a 70% win rate, but one of those entry models can win that entire

[02:11] completely. So, if you're constantly trying to implement more than one consistent probability and inevitably, you'll never see consistent results. I cannot emphasize this enough. Master one thing. But even if you master one model,

[02:24] you're still going to lose. Which is why part, understanding draw on liquidity. Most traders lose not because their even know where price was heading in the first place. And if you start by

[02:37] eliminate all sorts of guesswork if you plan it right. which means if you don't in the dark and wondering why you miss. This is by far the most common mistake trader make is that they'll first see their entry model form and then they'll

[02:50] that. Instead, what you should be focusing on is first finding your higher time frame draw on liquidity and then going down and finding your entry model that takes you to that draw on liquidity. Everything revolves around

[03:03] engineer your trade from it. See, the thing is, if you're trading an entry liquidity, you're never going to be able to know what targets to mark out. And in a 50/50 on whether it's going to go up or down. You need to establish a

[03:16] enter. Again, guys, don't overvalue your be the thing that's going to take you to that draw on liquidity. And at the end of the day, it's personal preference and it's not a priority. Your entry model

[03:28] for you technically and logically, right? So, for example, us, we trade in liquidity, we're simply finding an inversion entry that is targeting that inversions? Because we understand that system technically and logically. What

[03:43] does that mean? Technically speaking, I understand that if all fair value gaps has flipped. Price is now ready to hit that drawn liquidity. So, I have full conviction in that entry model and where I position myself. My stop loss has a

[03:56] building narrative, right? And beyond logically, right? To me, it makes sense. I think about it almost like if it's handing the ball to a running back. And once he breaks the defensive line once

[04:09] nobody left to stop the running back from running towards the end zone. In other words, there's no fair value gaps left to disrespect my trade as it heads towards the drawn liquidity. So, let me emphasize it again. If it doesn't make

[04:21] sense to you technically and logically, you should not be trading that system. heading, most traders will get trapped by the wrong signals, especially on the lower time frame. Don't be hyperfixated. Which leads us to our next point. You

[04:34] guys should ignore 99% of lower time frame SMTs. And if you don't know what boot camp videos and watch that video before we elaborate on this. Link is in the description. One of the most common ways that ICT traders get analysis

[04:47] paralysis is by focusing on lower time frame SMTs that just simply don't matter. Because what might look like confirmation at first is simply just noise if it's not following your draw on liquidity and targets. Now, I personally

[04:59] first starting out trading. Once I figured out what an SMT was, I was always looking at ES and NQ side by side, and I was searching for every single SMT to see if it will give me some sort of narrative in price. Now,

[05:12] because ES and NQ are correlated assets, that doesn't mean it's always going to every single second of the day. So, after taking tons of losses from just putting all this noise on my chart from focusing on these lower time frame SMTs,

[05:26] what I started doing instead was waiting for SMTs to form in places where I example. Let's say I'm bullish on the day and my next draw on liquidity is strong liquidity pool. If I'm going to be bullish, I want to see price trade

[05:40] lower at first, take out some sort of sell side, and then go higher. That's markets. So, I'm expecting since I'm bullish, there to be an SMT that gets formed there for price to then trade

[05:52] that trade. What I'm not going to be focusing on is lower time frame SMTs that are not at that target of London highs. That is going to be noise. Don't worry about that. Only focus on the SMTs inside of higher time frame PDAs.

[06:06] Periods is just any ICT concept. So, this can be fair gaps, order blocks, on that higher time frame, I promise you guys, it's going to remove so much noise. But also don't forget, you always want to look out for SMTs at your

[06:18] should always be strong liquidity pools as well. So if we're looking to target and it's delivering towards London highs, let's say ES takes London highs, cautious of that. We can either trail

[06:32] close our position. Ideally, the smart move is to close your position if you London highs because now that ES has taken it, in theory, NQ has taken it too with a perfect analysis and execution, if your life outside of the charts is a

[06:46] mess, it'll show up in your trades. Let me explain. Your lifestyle affects your say that trading is, you know, 90% psychology or whatever that statistic may be, what that truly means is that your psychology is rooted from how you

[06:59] someone who has good routine, makes your bed every morning, wakes up, you know, you journal everything, you go to the gym every day consistently, you eat healthy, it's these micro habits that increase your psychology, help you build

[07:12] disciplined trader. Do you see the because your technicals are off. You're a bad trader because you lack good life. Picture yourself where you want to be in 5 to 10 years. Let's say for most

[07:25] figures a month with trading, being able to buy your dream car, buying your dream home. Now ask yourself this. Does that version of you get four hours of sleep, or doom scroll on TikTok for [ __ ] 5

[07:38] the habits that a successful and profitable trader have. Most people who see success in the markets don't live like this because it's impossible to be disciplined off the charts. When I first started trading, I was way too obsessed

[07:52] with the charts. I would be back testing six hours a day. I'll be looking at AM. I'll be looking at basically the charts every single hour the market was open. This led me to have no routine outside the charts, which heavily

[08:05] impacted my trading and my psychology. I'm telling you guys, less is more when the most and seeing the most results was when I simply stopped caring about the the journey. And what I mean by this is I would spend 1 to two hours a day on

[08:19] the charts. From there, I would go to the gym. I would eat healthy, eat three times a day, have a structured routine. From there, when I got home, I would journal my trades, back test, maybe watch a couple of educational videos

[08:31] life be the charts. And I have the same exact problem, and I think everyone has that same exact problem at some point in their trading journey. You become so trying to hit your monetary goals so fast that you fail to realize that

[08:45] overanalyzing everything and that a successful trader's life is relatively the charts. So, learn to be efficient with the information you consume. Learn to be efficient with your day. And as a result, you'll optimize your mental

[08:58] psychology and taking better trades. And one habit that I think changed my trading completely was something as simple as waking up every morning an and then starting to develop my bias. And by developing my bias before I'd

[09:11] a strong narrative of what I wanted to see for the day and not get hyperfixated on lower time frame entries. It's little things like this that keep you in check. without knowing what you're going to hit for the day. You'll wander around, waste

[09:24] something, but make no progress and probably got a garbage workout out of it. Or in trading terms, you'll hop on the charts 1 minute before market open. that price is going up, and every 1 minute red candle will mean price is

[09:36] going down. So, by simply writing out your bias, that's going to anchor down you have and filter out all of that lower time frame noise that you see. This will keep you aligned and reduce impulsive decision-m. Here's an example

[09:48] So, I said I was bearish bias coming into the morning. We disrespected the trading towards this 4hour intermediate low. I'll play either side depending on into that 15-minute bearish rally gap,

[10:02] But if we manipulate lower at open, then I'll take longs from there. If there's lower time frame bullish confirmation from that POI. So, I'm giving myself two scenarios on what price action is going to do. either we trade higher and then

[10:15] we can get a short towards that very obvious draw on liquidity or if open from there and we actually did play both sides of the range this day price ended up trading higher at open took shorts down to that low and then from there we

[10:28] to show what having a narrative before going into every day allows you to do off of fog and you're taking trades correlated with the overall narrative to be married to biases right you want to create these A+ scenarios in your

[10:42] And until any of those happen, then you shouldn't allow yourself to execute. Cuz predicting, right? Predicting is cool. He can write all that and he can be learn to write down those higher time frame A+ scenarios so you establish a

[10:56] narrative for price going into every single morning. But even with a perfect impulsive traders. And you've probably heard this before, but it's knowing when not to trade. It is just as important, if not more important, than knowing when

[11:09] biggest losses come from trades that you should have never taken in the first place. And deep down, you probably knew it didn't feel right at the time, but emotions. Listen, you don't want to be the prop firm's target audience. Those

[11:21] just looking to make a quick dollar and taking every single setup they see. I starting out, I would spend so much time convincing myself that trades were good And I always got that gut feeling like, "Ooh, this probably isn't good, but what

[11:36] if I get lucky?" That's a horrible mindset to have, right? half-assing your rules and just constantly donating to prop firms because you're not doing the clear direction. Wait for one side to get respected or broken first. If a

[11:48] trade isn't obvious, you skip it. And you know when a trade is obvious. It look at and you should say, "If I don't take this, I'm a [ __ ] idiot." Also, market is going. So, if you're struggling to establish a narrative for

[12:00] price on the day or things look too choppy to even establish one, what should you do? Sit on your hands, avoid trading, and preserve capital. A day you preserving capital and waiting for higher probability setups that are most

[12:13] this point is based off of one of my favorite books from trading of all time, the Zone. He says that the best trades are the ones that you don't take. And you'll get more advanced as a trader. Because what would happen to me a lot of

[12:27] horrible conditions and I'll basically just rinse all of the money I had. And then on days where I get super high quality setups in A+ conditions, I would have no capital to trade with. So preserving capital is by far the most

[12:40] important thing that you can do for your trading. Anyone can make money in the keeping that money that you make. But knowing when to sit out is only half of after the trade. Which leads us to our next point. Don't skip journaling. If

[12:54] trading blind. You're repeating mistakes without even realizing it and leaving you're not journaling, you don't know why you're winning or why you're losing. track. And worst of all, as you keep thinking your strategy is what needs to

[13:08] behavior. So, if you want to start making money with trading, start journaling. Daily bias, executions, emotions, how you felt before the trade your trade so you remember what your executions looked like and what day you

[13:21] both your trading and your psychology. It is the absolute best way to fast was a huge reason we were able to hit five six-figure months in trading. But down the market and master the same setups that we've taken thousands of

[13:36] college students, you can click the link in description below to join. But only part of the game. But the fastest way to build confidence in your edges by seeing it play out over and over before you go live. How do you do this? Back

[13:50] confidence in trading did not come from me taking more live trades. It came from back testing. It came from seeing my edge play out over and over again through a week worth of data in under an hour. And over time, you will see that

[14:04] your system is consistently profitable. This will give you that confidence that you need to enter into live markets. And truly, in my opinion, I think that this is the reason why 99% of traders are unprofitable because they don't have the

[14:16] conviction in their own model. They'll be really unsure whether their setup setup works because they've only seen it a couple of times. And that uncertainty going to lead to closing before your TP gets hit. Closing when you're a little

[14:29] bit into draw down. And basically, every trade from there is going to feel like a coin flip instead of what it should be, a calculated move. And here was my back day that led me to become the profitable trader I am today. I would back test one

[14:42] week of data every single day. This would take maybe an hour out of my day. Okay? If you want it bad enough, you guys can do it. Now, I would only back test what I was trading. So, for example, I trade NASDAQ futures. And I

[14:54] only trade at New York AM session from 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. So, that's all I Asia session. I'm not going to back test London session. I'm not back testing PM. in my system. And back testing should never feel like a chore. And if it does,

[15:08] willing to really focus on the monetary goals. Back testing should feel like if sort of video game, like if you're going into [ __ ] training mode in Rocket get into a competitive match. It should feel the same way, right? It's a fun way

[15:20] to warm yourself up and always remain confident before you go into those live really fun ways to back test. Like, for example, if you use chart champamps.com, [ __ ] hop in a 1v one with him. You'll get a random week of data. Let's see who

[15:33] have to be boring and lonely anymore. Find a friend that you also want to get champs, one v one each other for [ __ ] you know, 2 hours a day and and results while also improving your trading. Back testing will naturally

[15:47] refine your win rate. It'll refine your model. It'll help the charts feel like second nature. The reality is that trading is a language. And the more you you'll become in it and not have to second guess whether this is your setup

[15:59] or it's not or whether these conditions are tradable or not. Use historical data to master a winning model and then apply it to the live markets once you've optimized it and have full conviction in it. But here's a trap most traders fall

[16:11] into next. After all the studying and back testing, they start thinking that that's where everything falls apart. Sometimes the more you know, the worse. information, trying to add confluences that shouldn't even be part of your

[16:24] strategy is a simple strategy. It's one that you should be able to explain to your grandmother if you [ __ ] had to. You don't need to start adding all these world has never heard of because it makes you feel smarter when in reality,

[16:37] strategy. The more you try to look for, the harder it's going to be to find your Our strategy is really only made up of three parts. Liquidity, inversions, unmitigated fair value gaps. It's really that simple. I see way too many traders

[16:50] going way too deep into the ICT rabbit hole and trying to learn every single you should do. It's only going to overwhelm you and send you into analysis a strategy, you're just going to sit there waiting for every single box to

[17:02] setup 90% of the time. Your brain is [ __ ] overloaded and your confidence is shot. So, what you need to understand is that less is more. Simplify to amplify. The best traders win not because they know the most, but because

[17:15] they master a few things deeply. Less noise, more clarity, better decisions, more profit. And once you strip away all the noise, you'll start to see something been learning, every concept is rebranded after another. They're just

[17:28] Because nowadays, since there's so many concepts out there, you'll start to simply rebranded after another with a slight discrepancy between each. So just sense to you. At the end of the day, whether you're entering off of a market

[17:41] structure shift, the CISD, or an OB, you're going to get a relatively similar things and combine them into one strategy. When I first started trading was getting so overwhelmed because there was no clear path on what I should be

[17:55] different entry models, a bunch of different strategies, a bunch of day, I got way too overwhelmed. I was learning about CICD's, OBS, breakers without mastering one singular concept just to pretty much end up with the same

[18:09] traders do is for example you'll focus on let's say a breaka structure and then that and a market structure shift and then what's the difference between a breaker block and an OB guys focus on one singular PDA one singular concept

[18:23] and master that once you can master that then you can start adding another rate and at the end of the day you're going to realize you don't need more mastering these ICT concepts there's still one big illusion that most traders

[18:37] you're beating the institutions by trading ICT. If you think trading ICT is already lost. The goal isn't to beat institutions. It's to analyze and learn how they move the markets in order to trade and adapt correspondingly. I'm

[18:51] and heard people say, "Oh, but my dad's a quant." And he says that you can't trade ICT because you can't develop a [ __ ] delta or whatever the [ __ ] billions of dollars. You're a singular trader looking to outperform your

[19:05] achieve financial freedom by mastering a high income skill. You're not going to going to move the market with $10,000. You're not going to move it with $100,000. But that's not the point. The point is to understand how the market

[19:18] always thought about it, it's like playing chess. Analyze your play and of that mindset of trying to beat the banks, you'll realize the next lie we've all been sold. There's no such thing as the best strategy. The choosing the best

[19:33] strategy is the easiest way to get stuck in your journey of trading because what not work for you. We have friends that trade support and resistance, trend lines, supply and demand, pretty much everything that goes against what we

[19:45] trade. And what they see in the market, we don't see. But that is okay because at the end of the day, they have a proven win rate with their strategy. And that's all that matters. So stop chasing the next best strategy, the next best

[19:57] thing. Focus on what you already know and what makes sense to you. And that's Everyone has a huge ego and everyone tries to sell you that they have the you that we have the best strategy. We've never said that once. We simply

[20:09] don't find it difficult learning from us and are able to master what we teach those people that, you know, like the way Blake and I trade and want to learn someone else trades and you want to learn from them. But the point is and

[20:22] makes sense to you. And that is what's going to be the best strategy because the best strategy is going to optimize to your psychology, your lifestyle, and your logic. For example, our strategy works best during New York AM session.

[20:36] session. This strategy is most likely not for you. You probably want to find a revolves around inversions. Let's say you don't like inversions. Our strategy is probably not for you. Does that mean our strategy is bad? No. It works

[20:50] I've seen more money with this strategy than I have in my entire life. But at strategy. It's the best strategy for us. And there's also this new trend going around Tik Tok where people are top ticking and bottom ticking trades with

[21:04] you know, this is the new best strategy. I should learn this model. When in that mean? Your win rate's going to be a lot lower. And what we trade with higher, lower RR. Every strategy is

[21:18] just have to find what works for you. I'll speak for myself. I prefer winning at a higher frequency with a lower RR than winning at a lower frequency with a higher RR. To me, seeing consistent wins and profits gives me more confidence and

[21:30] conviction in a model than occasionally hitting super large trades that account for most my losses. But that may not be the case for you, and that's fine. Which practically ties all this together, right? Find one person you truly like

[21:42] similar to yours. you like the way they trade and learn from them. Master their strategy, adapt it into your own and optimize it through back testing, building a good routine in life, and most importantly, trusting the process

[21:56] once you found a winning system that suits you. Stop chasing the next best thing and start chasing consistency and discipline in life, cuz that's what will take you everywhere you want to be. That being said, boys, thank you so much for

[22:08] watching this video. This was all the advice that we could possibly give you regarding if we could start over with ICT. So, thank you guys so much for watching this video. So, this is 5 years of ICT advice in 20 minutes and we hope

[22:20] lessons from this YouTube video. Comment down below what else you want to see our YouTube, improve our overall content. We have cool vlogs coming out. want to join our community, link is in the description. Follow our socials,

[22:33] whatever you want to do. And most importantly, subscribe to the channel. you're going to implement as a trader to improve your lifestyle, psychology, and trading. And if you're confused on anything that we've said in this video,

[22:46] we have a full ICT for Dummies course on our YouTube for completely free where concepts today. Go hit the link in the description and start today. And yeah, boys, we'll see you in the next video. Peace out, boys. Much love.